The news of the day is cornerback Loucheiz Purifoy, the rookie cornerback claimed by the Seahawks off waivers from Indianapolis on Friday, failed his physical and thus Seattle has waived him. That leaves the Seahawks with an open roster spot. Coach Pete Carroll said the team is having ongoing discussions on how to fill it and which position group to bolster before Sunday's game at Philadelphia.

The reason linebacker Kevin Pierre-Louis went on injured reserve Saturday to end his rookie season is because he is having shoulder surgery to repair damage to his labrum. Carroll confirmed that today, and the fourth-round draft choice from Boston College tweeted this:

--Carroll said center Max Unger may be able to return to practice next week, prior to the home game Dec. 14 against San Francisco. That means Lemuel Jeanpierre, Unger's backup the last three seasons who re-signed off an injury settlement two weeks ago, will make his second consecutive start anchoring the offensive line against the Eagles. That line looked for more settled and in control from an organizational and communications standpoint with Jeanpierre making his season debut there Thursday, after fourth-stringer Patrick Lewis had replaced Unger in the previous two games.

Carroll said Unger's high-ankle sprain and twisted knee is "still a little gimpy, but getting better."

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"I don’t know if we’ll be able to get him on the field this week. The feeling is that he should be able make it back next week unless maybe we can get a surprise in the next couple days," Carroll said.

--Nickel defensive back Jeremy Lane (gluteus muscle, missed last Thursday's win at San Francisco) is likely to return to practice this week, Carroll said.

--Carroll said tight end Cooper Helfet is "day to day" with the sprained ankle that had him out against the 49ers.

--The coach said starting left guard James Carpenter's sprained ankle came out of the 49ers game well. Carpenter played all 65 snaps at San Francisco after missing 3 1/2 games.

CARROLL'S RELATIONSHIP WITH OWNER PAUL ALLEN "BETTER THAN I COULD HAVE IMAGINED"

You may have noticed the 49ers chief executive officer tweeting this after the Seahawks beat his team 19-3 in Santa Clara Thanksgiving night:

Asked how it would make him feel if his team owner tweeted that following any loss, Carroll could barely contain his smile.

"Our owner would never do that," Carroll responded.

Carroll couldn't have had it teed up for him any better and driven that softball any further, 850 miles down the coast to the Bay Area, on a day 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh was answering questions about his future with San Francisco. Harbaugh's contract there ends after next season, and speculation is as hot as ever following the dud of last week's home loss to the Seahawks that the Niners won't have him back for the final season of that deal in 2015.

Carroll's answer today up the coast in Renton spawned a conversation on how fortunate Carroll feels to have Paul Allen as Seahawks owner, John Schneider as the general manager and Peter McLoughlin as team president. The coach and vice president said the arrangement is even better than he hoped when he signed on with Seattle in January 2010.

"I have such good support with all that John does, and Peter, it seems like it's been effortless, really," Carroll said. "We've gotten along so, so smoothly and see eye to eye on everything we've dealt with. We've been able to find that spot where we see eye to eye. Paul has been so supportive, and the multitude of things that John's in charge of, (Allen) really impacts what he does a great deal with all the money and all that kind of stuff. We just work together. The communication has always been open. Good dialogue in every turn, through all the years. We all have such a good base that we all feel like we can get through whatever we have to deal with.

"I feel like we just work things out. Everybody is very respectful of the position and authority and titles and all that ... it really couldn't be better. Our format and set up couldn't be better, really; it's right on."

When I asked him if this was what he envisioned when he left USC to join the Seahawks, Carroll said: "It's turned out better than I could have imagined."

"I really hoped that it would be that the freedom would be here. The freedom is here," Carroll said.

He meant the freedom from Allen and the partnership with this GM to do as he sees fit with players and the roster and entire program he imported from USC.

About the Seahawks Insider Blog

Gregg Bell joined The News Tribune in July 2014. Bell had been the director of writing for the University of Washington's athletic department for four years. He was the senior national sports writer in Seattle for The Associated Press from 2005-10, covering the Seahawks in their first Super Bowl season and beyond. He's also been The Sacramento Bee's beat writer on the Oakland Athletics and Raiders. The native of Steubenville, Ohio, is a 1993 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., and a 2000 graduate of the University of California, Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism.